


Shouhen

by Marie9



Series: Hayatoverse [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Back to high school, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hayatoverse, Shrinking isn't fun, Sorry Takagi, This IS DC after all ;)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-04 08:05:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15837177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie9/pseuds/Marie9
Summary: A month and a half after Takagi Wataru's death in the line of duty during a botched sting operation the new guy at Ekoda High School, Takenaka Hayato, tries to settle into the rather unusual 2-B class and start his new life. But he should have known it wouldn't be that easy...





	1. Settling In

_"Hey Chiba! Have you heard from Takagi at all yet tonight?"_ _Megure frowned as he approached the keiji's desk, his tone matching the worry that the keibu wore on his face. "It's not like him to not have checked in with us yet, especially on something interdepartmental like this."_

_"Not yet, keibu, but I understand that he and his assigned partner are out at the docks right now waiting to make their arrests tonight."_

_"Well, if we don't hear from him soon let's head over that way and see if he needs any help. Of course, we'll have to be really careful to stay hidden. A marked unit could ruin the entire thing if they're in the middle of a sting..."_

It felt strange, Megure reflected after he interrupted himself mid-memory, that it had only been a month and a half since that terrible, strange night - the night that had turned the First Homicide Division upside down on their collective heads. It seemed like it had been a lifetime ago to him. He drummed his fingers across the desktop after he heard Satou Miwako's firm, but carefully polite voice issuing from the squad room through his open door, the rest of the light chatter in the next room coming to a dead halt after she spoke.

"Excuse me, but that's Takagi-kun's desk that you're trying to sit at, Takashi-san."

 _Welp, obviously no one warned our new hire about trying to sit at that desk._ Deciding to intervene and show their newest promotion to her desk, Megure quickly got up and exited the room, deliberately stepping in between the two women and offering Takashi Chiyoko a polite incline of his head. "Aah, Takashi-san! Welcome to First Division Homicide. I'm Megure Juzo-keibu; I'll show you where your desk is." He then waved her over to another desk in a different part of the room that had been stocked with notepads, pens, papers and a new coffee mug for her arrival. "Congratulations on your promotion; I will say you really stood out head and shoulders above the others. Go ahead and mingle a little until the morning assignment meetings and get to know everyone."

Chiyoko bowed her head, her shoulder-length dark brown hair slipping forward. She adjusted her small, square-lensed glasses after she lifted her head back up and offered Megure a smile. "Thank you, Megure-keibu. I'll be sure to do that."

He nodded and left her with a faint smile, noticing that Chiba was already waiting for him in his office when Megure walked back in. "What's going on, Chiba?"

"Keibu, we need to do something about...that situation soon," replied Chiba firmly after closed the door, pointing through the window towards Takagi Wataru's vacant, slightly dusty desk with his thumb. "She's always very polite and calm about it, but Satou-san is like a mother bear protecting her baby when it comes to that desk."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Megure rubbed his mustache with his finger in thought. "But you know what he told us, and I know we both agree with him. The fewer people that know about what really happened that night, the better, including Satou-keiji."

"Speaking of people knowing. He's still on our payroll for right now, right?" Chiba leaned forward a little in the chair he'd taken.

"Until our HR and payroll people start asking too many questions, yes, and even then I'll try to come up with something to keep them at bay for awhile. I'm keeping his checks in my desk until we can figure out how to cash them for him. But why do you ask?" Megure's eyebrow rose upward as he asked the question.

"Well, when I visited him last night to bring him some more food and his mail, he said he's been starting to get weird looks lately from the neighbors." Chiba rubbed his chin and looked at the ceiling. "I told him it might be a good idea to look at enrolling in high school." He paused, looking at Megure again and shrugging his shoulders lightly. "You know, considering how he looks now and everything. It might help him not stick out as much if he goes. And he'll need money for food and new clothes if he's going to do that, on top of paying for the apartment."

_What do you mean this is Takagi? This is a teenager!_

_I know. I don't believe it myself! But keibu, these were the clothes he was wearing, and this is his wallet. And here's his badge...as crazy as this sounds, I really think this is him!_

"Hrm." Megure looked up at the ceiling, mulling the idea over for a few moments. "Probably not a bad idea, especially if he's got nosy neighbors. No need to have a policeman from that side of town start poking their nose into things." He looked back down at Chiba. "Is he going to do it?"

"I'm pretty sure I had him talked into it before I left last night. Hey, anything's gotta be better than being cooped up in that apartment all day and only sneaking out at night to do his laundry, right?" Chiba shrugged again and stood up, stretching a little. "I think the closest high school to him was Ekoda High, or something like that. I told 'em I'd disguise myself like I do when I go visit him and pose as his father to sign the enrollment papers, if he needed me to."

"Good plan, although I think he's told his parents," nodded Megure. "You, me, his parents. I think we're the only ones besides him that know about what happened." Megure then looked out the window and noticed several pointed glances at his door from the room full of people waiting for their assignments. "Well, we'd better get out there for the morning meeting; I see people staring at my door." He gave an amused, though grim smile as the two of them headed out of his office.

* * *

After the morning assignment meeting Satou Miwako walked out to the police car she was usually assigned, giving it a quick once-over before getting in and settling into the driver's seat. She then buckled her seatbelt before opening her purse's secret back pouch, which contained some carefully preserved notes in the date order that she'd received them. She opened the very first one that she'd gotten, touching it to her chest for a moment before untucking the envelope, extracting the note inside and reading it all over again even though she'd long ago committed it to memory.

_Satou-san,_

_I hope that this note gets to you as soon as you check your mail. I know what you're probably seeing and hearing on the TV and at work over the last few days. Don't let any of it fool you._

She had felt hollow, absolutely dead inside, when the announcement had been made at the police station that one of their own had died in the line of duty. That was mostly because she had already noticed Takagi's very conspicuous absence during their usual morning roll call. Satou had even wondered if it was the universe's way of saying that she simply wasn't meant to have a relationship, especially in light of what had also happened to her first object of romantic affection. For the entire week leading up to the funeral and even during the funeral she'd felt like a robot running on autopilot, feeling but not really feeling, thinking but not really thinking. Until she'd finally gathered herself together enough to check her mail...

_I'm still alive._

Satou still remembered how her heart had leapt in her chest when she'd initially studied one of the strange white envelopes with no return address or stamp on it sitting amongst her mail. The first time she'd gotten one, Satou had just gotten home from attending Takagi's closed-casket funeral a week after his death, and she had decided to try going through the motions of life in an attempt to take her mind off things. The moment that she'd glanced at her name on the envelope, Satou had recognized Takagi's handwriting since she was so used to looking over his notes when the two of them compared information during a case. She had thought that her eyes and heart were playing tricks on her until she saw the rest of the note was in his handwriting as well- and Takagi had also enclosed a newspaper clipping dated two days after he was supposed to have perished.

_I'm very sorry that I haven't written sooner to let you know that I'm alright, but I've just finished recovering from a very bad illness. In fact, I just got out of the hospital today. I hope you'll forgive me._

She wondered quite a bit just what that 'illness' had been, and she was also curious if there was a connection between that illness and the other detective's death. The coroners had quite literally been unable to establish any sort of cause of death for the deceased Ikeda Akihiro, from what she'd managed to learn. Takagi Wataru's corpse was supposed to have been burned beyond recognition and unable to be autopsied beyond identifying him through his dental work, but of course Satou now knew that that was just a cover story. She was still trying to figure out just what had happened in her free time, and Satou had some definite ideas about who to talk to next.

_If you're wondering why I haven't actually called you like I wanted to, it's because I've decided that it's probably best for me to hide out for a while. I want to let the men that tried to kill me along with Ikeda-keiji keep thinking that they succeeded in killing us both so they won't come after me or anyone else that's close to me. I'm even letting the lease on my apartment in town lapse and moving someplace else just in case..._

_I've enclosed a newspaper clipping as well- once you study it, I'm sure you'll know why I enclosed it._

_The biggest favor I can ask of you is to keep pretending like I'm dead, at least if anyone asks about me or brings me up._

He hadn't given her an address or a phone number, of course, but he  _had_  given her a PO box under an assumed name that she could use to write to him if she wanted. After Satou had immediately replied and they'd started their correspondence she'd hunted high and low in the greater Tokyo prefecture for any apartments that were rented under the name 'Nakashima Kiyoshi,' but the three men she'd found so far didn't seem to be panning out. One was way too short and fat to be her Takagi, the second was a total drunkard who was much too old and worn-looking even if it was makeup, and the last one had been living in the same apartment for going on ten years. She really wished she could catch Takagi in the act of delivering his unaddressed replies into her mail slot, but they always seemed to come while she was at work. Part of her suspected that that was because some of her coworkers were feeding Takagi information on her shift schedule. Well, OK - two of her coworkers in particular.

She waited for Chiba, who'd been parked in front of her, to pull out, then carefully pulled out as she used her rearview mirror to watch his car drive off in the opposite direction.  _Chiba-kun, if anyone knows what really happened or where he is right now, it's got to be either you or Megure-keibu. Maybe the both of you, actually...I know that you two were the first on the scene that night at the docks, after all._ Her suspicions on this were doubled in her mind by the fact that Megure-keibu apparently still hadn't put in the proper paperwork to take Takagi off the payroll books yet. Why the delay unless he had a good reason for it?

All she knew for certain was that Takagi had been assigned along with the other detective as part of an intradepartmental task force that was working to try and take down a huge smuggling ring. Well, that and the fact that something had obviously gone horribly awry during the bust that Takagi and Ikeda were supposed to have executed that evening.

_Yeah, Satou-san, we pulled up and the whole building was totally engulfed in flames! We could barely get Ikeda-keiji out and he was already dead, probably from the smoke._

She'd picked up on Chiba's nervousness as he'd told his version of events.

_Look Satou-san, I know you really want to know what happened that night and I understand it, believe me. But everything, all of it, is in the report..._

Satou shook her head.  _No, Megure-keibu, not all of it is in the report at all, or Takagi-kun wouldn't be writing to me...and I intend to get answers._

* * *

 

"Well, your testing came back and I'll be very honest with you, Takenaka-san. You could probably go to any high school that you'd like to, but we would be honored to have you here at Ekoda High." The entrance counselor bowed politely to him as he finished his sentence. "We can place you into a class immediately if you'd like." He smiled, sitting down in the chair at his desk. "Your old school has really lost a gem, but it's our gain if you choose to attend here."

The 17-year-old nodded thoughtfully after the counselor finished talking, looking like he was thinking it over even though he really wasn't. He engaged in a false nervous habit that he'd decided to develop for himself, ruffling the back of his neatly groomed brown hair slightly. "I'm just glad that I was able to find a school that could take me in on such short notice."

"We'll place you immediately. I'll be back with your class assignment shortly, okay?"

After nodding politely and offering a smile, Takenaka Hayato took advantage of the opportunity to look in a mirror. A trim teenaged boy's face stared back at him- a face that literally should have been impossible to look at. Even after a month and a half, he still found himself touching and poking and prodding his face on occasion, as well as pinching himself hard on the hand on occasion still to see if this was some bizarre, impossible dream that he needed to wake up from.

He frowned as he realized that the shoulders on his new suit were a little large; he'd have to have them taken in.  _Just one more thing to have to take care of,_ he thought with a sigh as he continued to study his face. Sometimes, it really felt like he was living someone else's life now- and he supposed that in a way, he was. Takagi Wataru had perished that night at the piers as surely as the other officer that had died from whatever the two of them had been force-fed.

"I apologize for the wait, Takenaka-san. Here's your class assignment. It will be straight that hall, then turn left. They're the second door on the right."

**CLASS 2-B**

As Takenaka Hayato studied the small scrap of notebook paper with his new class' information hastily scribbled on it, he still wasn't sure that this had been a good idea now that he'd slept on it. Then again, he supposed it was either this or keep enduring nosy, weird looks from the neighbors at his new apartment complex because a teenage boy was skulking around in the shadows at home all day instead of being at school -and the absolute last thing that Takenaka Hayato (or rather, Takagi Wataru) wanted to do was stick out.

 _No, this was definitely the right idea, and Chiba-san was smart to think of it. I've got to try and blend in..try to look more normal so I don't arouse any more suspicion. What's more normal than a teenager going to high school, after all?_ He finished walking down the halls and stepped up to the door of the classroom, hearing the teacher address the class on the other side of the door.

"...new student in our class starting today who's just finished his registration and testing, Takenaka Hayato. The attendance office said he should be here any minute. I'd like you all to greet him warmly when he arrives, alright?"

 _Well, I guess that's my cue. Here goes nothing..._ He reached up and politely knocked on the door, hoping it was loud enough to carry into the room.

"Aah, that must be him now. Come in," came the sensei's voice.

He opened the door and stepped inside, quickly scanning the class and breaking out into a cold sweat at the same time as he felt their collective gaze on him.  _What if this goes wrong?_ He took a deep breath to calm himself as he walked up to the chalkboard, picking up a piece of chalk and writing out his pseudonym so that everyone could see the kanji involved his name. Takagi could tell the moment he'd touched chalk to board that he needed a little more practice writing his new name, but he relaxed a little once he realized he'd done it with no mistakes in his strokes.

**竹**

**中**

**隼**

**人**

He then turned to the class and gave a polite half-bow. "Thank you for having me. I hope that I'll get to know all of you well." He then turned to the teacher to see what desk he was assigned and was pointed to a desk that was behind another empty desk. He went to sit down and put his book bag on the desk, still studying the classroom, and immediately felt something give under his bottom followed what sounded like a roaringly loud fart, one that sent the classroom into peals of laughter.

Except...he hadn't farted, and he'd felt something in his seat while he sat down on it, too. His cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment while the sensei tried to get the class under control, Takagi sat up slightly and felt the chair where he'd been sitting and discovered a deflated whoopee cushion. Wanting to exonerate himself, he held it up for the class and the teacher to see. The sensei gave Takagi a sympathetic look, followed by turning her attention to a messy-haired boy sitting three desks over in the same row as Takagi.

"Kuroba-san, what was our agreement about new students?" The sensei waved a chiding finger at the boy, though there was an unmistakable look of amusement on her face as well.

"Hey, I put them on  _everyone's_ seats this morning, sensei. Not my fault the new guy wasn't paying attention when he sat down, is it?"


	2. A Visit To The Station

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone continues to enjoy! :D

"Hi Conan-kun! Do you want to go to the police station and visit Satou-keiji after school today? We haven't seen her for a few days, right?"

Shinichi looked up from his math paper and into the smiling face of Ayumi, who'd just asked the question, the girl barely audible above the dull roar of a recessed classroom packed full of small children all playing various kinds of indoor games thanks to the rainy day outside. He nodded in reply, giving one of his well-practiced child's smiles in return as he put down the math. "Yeah, sure! You're right, we haven't visited her yet this week. We should." The Shonen Tanteidan had tried to make a point of visiting the detective regularly ever since the death of Takagi, trying to cheer Satou up and help keep her mind off of her partner's death.

Shinichi did want to help Satou-keiji cheer up and cope as best he could, but he  _also_  had a slowly growing, sneaking suspicion that there was a little more to the story surrounding Takagi Wataru's death in the line of duty than had ever been publicly released. He still couldn't quite put his finger on what was bugging him about the whole thing yet, and it was really irritating the shrunken meitantei. That same feeling was also driving Shinichi to want to poke around into the circumstances of that strange fire out on the pier a month and a half ago, and he had little doubt that Satou-keiji was far and away his best best to get information on things. As Shinichi finished up the very basic math on his sheet, he looked up to the well-used chalkboard with a thoughtful expression.  _After all, Satou-keiji is a very skilled detective in her own right. I'm sure that she's probably doing her own investigating into it, if for no other reason than some final closure for herself...I just hope that I can manage to find out what she's discovered so far._ Then again, arranging childlike 'accidents' to get information was something that Shinichi felt he'd become at least halfway decent at. _  
_

"Well aren't you looking rather serious this morning." This was said quietly and cooly by Shiho as she walked up the aisle by him before heading to her desk to prepare for the day, Shinichi instantly picking up on the warning hidden within the greeting and nodding to her gratefully.  _She's right...I've gotta watch that. You'd think after almost nine months I'd be used to being careful with letting my mask drop off by now..._

"Ai-chan, there you are! Good morning!" Ayumi quickly walked over to Shiho's desk to meet her friend with a smile. "Wanna go say hi to Satou-keiji with us after school today? Conan said he'll come."

Shiho thought this over for a few moments as she unloaded her backpack before offering Ayumi a nod and small smile. "I'll go as well, then."

"I'll go too!" cried Mitsuhiko, who had apparently overheard the conversation from his desk. "And I think Genta was going to bring her the new Yamen Kaiba movie so she can watch it."

"Heck, yeah!" Genta came running over with the DVD in his hand. "Oh man, it's awesome! It's his best fight yet! I bet she'll really like it!" He then began dancing around the classroom, doing an imitation of some of the fight moves used in the film. "I thought for sure he was gonna lose at least twice, but he won every fight!"

"That's 'cause he'd  _never_  lose!" cried Ayumi happily as she, too, did a few mock fighting moves. "He's awesome!"

Shinichi took advantage of the distraction to pull out a newspaper that he'd brought with him and rifle through it quickly before the sensei arrived.  _Of course, it's been so long now that there's hardly anything written about what happened anymore. It's old news now...but you never know._ A breadcrumb trail  _was_ still a trail after all, even if it might be a little dried out and stale, and almost no group was better than newspaper pigeons at finding their sustenance- information. There had even been a time or two before he'd shrunk that Shinichi could recall following that particular flock of birds to the truth of a case- well, following the information that they'd gathered, at any rate. He rapidly glanced through the crime section, finding nothing of interest or that seemed to be pertain to Takagi's murder.  _Yeah, I should have known. It's been long enough that I really doubt anyone is actively pursuing the story anymore._

Once they got off the bus after the day had ended, the kids walked the short, familiar route to the station, where they seemed to be in the middle of a shift change. They were warmly greeted by the group of officers working there as they entered, waves and smiles coming from even the most stalwart-looking faces. Shinichi's brows shot upwards as he studied the absolutely immaculately kept desk of Takagi Wataru in the corner of the room, complete with clean coffee mug and nameplate still present.  _That's odd...maybe they're not giving it to someone else so they can keep it as a tribute to him?_ He found himself wandering over to the desk with a puzzled frown, studying the space intently. _Man, _it's absolutely spotless right down to the spoon by the coffee mug.__ Shinichi rubbed his chin as he continued to study the oddly clean area _. I mean, I understand keeping it clean out of respect to him, almost like a shrine, but this seems a little above even that..._

"OH! There she is by the door, Conan!" Shinichi was pulled out of his thoughts thanks to a gentle, but insistent tugging from Ayumi on his sleeve. "Looks like Genta and Mitsuhiko are saying hi already! Let's go over there too!" She grinned widely before heading over to Satou, who was greeting the Tanteidan with a wide smile as she finished checking in and heading towards her desk.

"Hello, everyone! It's very good to see you!" And it really was; Satou still wasn't sure how she would have gotten through the first week, before Takagi's letter, without the Shonen Tanteidan's smiling faces and her coworker's stalwart support. "How have you all been?" She waved them over to her desk, moving some reports out of the way so that there was space on her desk.

"We got to make paper flowers, and I saved mine for you!" Ayumi eagerly held out a small, red paper flower attached to a green 'stem' made of soft green, flexible straw that they'd made in art class earlier that day.

"And I brought the new Yamen Kaiba movie for you! You'll really like it!" Genta offered Satou the DVD that he'd brought with him. "He fights  _five_  monsters in it! And he fights two at the same time once, too!"

"Thank you both so much! The flower is very pretty!" Satou placed Ayumi's flower into a small vase that she had on her desk, and she then tucked the Yamen Kaiba movie into her purse. "I promise I'll bring the movie back as soon as I'm done watching it, OK?"

While the Tanteidan were holding Satou's interest, Shinichi noticed a small lime green Post-It note on the floor. He went to pick it up to hand it back to Satou, but after he read what it said he found his curiousity piqued even more.  _Now isn't that interesting..._

**_He's still on our payroll?_ **

Of course Shinichi had absolutely no idea who the 'he' referred to was, but the possibilities were pretty interesting. 'Our' payroll was likely referring to the police department, although he couldn't be sure of that. There  _was_ one way he could try and find out, though... _Cue Curious Kid Questioning Time,_ he thought with a barely suppressed grin. One of the benefits to being small: being able to ask nosy questions without getting in trouble most of the time.

"Satou-keiji, I think this fell from your desk!" He held the note up to her with a deliberately innocent smile. "Is there a bad man taking money from the police or something? Maybe we can help you find them!"

"Oh, no. This is, um, something I'm looking into on my own time. Thank you, Conan-kun." She smiled and took the note before sticking it into her desk a little too quickly for Shinichi's liking.

 _Satou-keiji, there really is something more going on here, isn't there?_ Shinichi was glad that everyone else was too busy talking to notice him frantically writing down a few notes in a small notepad that he kept with him.  _Time to do a little 'looking into' things on my own..._

* * *

"I had to lose Satou-san three times coming here, you know. Do you have  _any idea_  how hard that was to do?" Chiba halfheartedly grumbled at Takagi as he stepped into Takagi's newly rented apartment with a few bags of groceries, shrugging off his green windbreaker onto a small hook on the door after getting the groceries to the small kitchen. He then scanned the small, very bare but well-kept cream-toned apartment and shook his head. "You need to get at least a futon and table or something, Tak-err Takenaka-san. This place could really use some furniture in it." They'd decided quite a while ago that even someplace where it might be safe, they wouldn't use his actual name because they didn't want to run the risk of the old name slipping out somewhere. 

The first statement caused Takagi to give the other man a small smirk. "I used to ride surveillance with her, remember? Believe me, I know how good Satou-san is at tailing someone." Takagi laughed lightly as he began unpacking his groceries. "Thanks for doing this, by the way. I just didn't want to risk bringing cold things home on the bus from school during rush hour." He carefully packed milk and eggs into the small fridge. "And yeah, I know I need to get some furniture; sleeping in a sleeping bag is beginning to get a little old. We just have to figure out how to cash my paychecks first..."

"Ah, so you DID enroll at that school today then. I think it's a really good idea, it'll help you not stick out so much." Chiba walked over with a nod. "Do you need money for uniforms or anything in the meantime?"

"Yeah, I do- I have a week to get a uniform ordered from the school. Which is why we have to figure out how to cash my paychecks." He put away the last of the groceries and turned to Chiba. "Maybe you can use that wig and go and deposit them in my account? But then it would show activity on my account and that would be a bad idea..." Takagi made a face as he drummed his fingers on the tiny cabinet he'd put his things away in, trying to come up with a good solution for the problem that wouldn't possibly risk the people that tried to kill him discovering that he was still alive.

"These guys really have you running scared, don't they?" Chiba frowned as he studied his now-teenaged friend. "I know you mentioned a bunch of them in black jackets and fedoras, right?"

Takagi nodded, eyes shut in recollection, the little he could recall flashing in front of his mind's eye. "It seemed like a uniform for them or something. They were all wearing them, actually." He then shook his head before opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling. "They really knew what they were doing, too...we couldn't even radio for help before they knocked us both out. One second we were getting ready to move in and make our arrests, then the next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital like this." He moved his hand up and down in front of him to indicate his shrunken body. In fact, his alias had been borne out of Chiba and Megure frantically trying to come up with a pseudonym to register Takagi under at the hospital, where they'd taken him thanks to a combination of smoke inhalation and his incredibly high fever. Luckily, because they were policeman all the two had had to say was that he was in the witness protection program and under police protection for the hospital to not bat an eye at registering him without proof of identity.

"Oh yeah! I picked up your mail." Chiba walked back over to his windbreaker and pulled out the things he'd collected from the PO box. "I think I'll probably have to stop delivering your letters to her though, with the way she's tailing me now. Sorry." He then shook his head. "I understand why you started writing her, but do you really think it was a good idea?"

"Well, I sure didn't want her to keep thinking I was dead." Takagi gave Chiba a serious look. "But I guess you're right. For now, until I can think of a way to explain...well, me shrinking, I guess, I don't think it would be a good idea for her to find me. And if she's tailing you like that, she'll probably find me eventually." He offered Chiba a smile. "Thanks for helping out, but I'll figure out something else. Maybe I'll deliver them myself if you guys can tell me when she's working so I know she won't run into me."

"I still think we should let Megure-keibu know that you told Satou-san," replied Chiba as he settled into a rather uncomfortable, temporary steel chair that was about the only stick of furniture in the apartment. "Just so he doesn't keep wondering why she's keeping your desk so tidy."

"You didn't tell him yet?" Takagi gave Chiba a puzzled look before nodding. "You definitely should. I don't want thinking that he has to keep it from her." He sighed. "Besides, I'm sure that she's digging around about what happened to me anyhow, knowing her."

"OK, I will." Chiba nodded before deciding to change the subject. "So how is the school you're going to? Must be really weird to be attending high school all over again, eh?"

"It is, and I also got stuck in a class with a real prankster," sighed Takagi as he pointed to his green suit jacket, which was pockmarked with what looked like some kind of yellow paint, a particularly large splash of color being located on the right shoulder. "I learned what one of my classmates meant by always having an umbrella handy around the guy the hard way. He'd rigged up a bunch of balloons filled with paint above everyone's desks while we were at lunch."

"Sounds like an...interesting guy," replied Chiba with a laugh as he studied the pain-laden jacket. "I hope it's water-soluble paint, at least?"

"Yeah, it's supposed to be but we'll see when I go to the laundry tomorrow." Takagi shrugged as he, too, looked at the jacket. "I give him credit, though- you should have seen how elaborate the rigging was. It was a real piece of work, all across the ceiling and rigged to the teacher's chair too with some invisible fishing line."

"And he managed all that during lunch?" Chiba raised an eyebrow. "He must have worked fast then, too."

"Yeah, and he told me a story about releasing a skunk during chemistry class too." Takagi laughed lightly as he shook his head. "Well, thanks for dropping things off, but I don't want to keep you for too long. I know you have early shift tomorrow."

After Chiba said his goodbyes, Takagi really looked around his new living quarters for the first time since moving into the place a month ago. He supposed Chiba  _was_  right - it definitely needed some furniture and a few touches of life in it. Right now, it was suspiciously barren if some nosy neighbor were to peek in through the windows- and this apartment complex definitely had its fair share of those, as he'd learned after the first few days of pointed stairs and gossip when they thought he was out of earshot.  _I also need to get a few things to make it look like a family is living here and not just me once I get some money,_ Takagi added mentally as he began to go over possibilities in his mind. His parents were more than happy to help by giving him cash so that he could buy food and clothes, but he didn't want to burden them for much longer.  _Maybe a large jacket left laying on a couch or something...just something to give the appearance that there's someone besides me here._ He continued to wander through the small apartment before deciding to take measurements for a futon first thing in the morning so that he could go shopping after school.

* * *

"We're not satisfied that he's dead, Absinthe."

Gin looked out the deliberately darkened window of the dusty, abandoned Black Organization-owned warehouse after he finished speaking, not even giving his subordinate eye contact due to his total disgust with the situation at hand. He cleared his throat in an attempt to get rid of the damp, musty smell mixed with ocean that pervaded the place before he took a long drag on his cigarette, the fiery red tip about the only color or light in the immediate vicinity. Gin didn't say anything more, deciding to let Absinthe speak if the other man had anything to say. He refused to speak the name of either of the detectives that they'd killed- or at least that they'd  _thought_  they'd killed, which is why Gin had summoned Absinthe in the first place. At this point, Gin had a firmly seated belief that one of the two had escaped that night- the escapee being Takagi Wataru-keiji.

 _So that's why he called this meeting. They just can't be satisfied even though it's been over a month now..._ "He burned to death! They had to identify him by his dental records!" The slightly heavy-set, middle-aged Absinthe took a deep breath or two after the protestation, his cultured voice laden with fear at the moment. "We also opened his girlfriend's mail for almost three weeks after the fire, remember? And there was never anything from him. Surely he would have communicated with her sometime in those three weeks." His light brown eyes tried to peer into the darkness towards his superior as he frowned, worry almost radiating from him even as he tried to suppress it. Gin had always been a wolf to Absinthe, an excellent predator very capable of picking up on and singling out weakness in his prey or potential prey. Absinthe ran a hand nervously through his brown and white close-cropped hair as he continued to mull the situation over.

"We gave you an assignment to permanently remove some drug smugglers from these docks- _very quietly,_ because they were probably going to draw police attention to our warehouses here eventually if they kept up what they were doing.  _Then_ , you somehow managed to recruit a pair of undercover cops to help you with it." Gin shook his head as he continued to stare out the window towards the moonlit harbor, the quiet sea gently swaying and reflecting the moon above. The gentle dings of buoy bells accompanied the rhythmic movement of the water, though the sound was somewhat muffled thanks to the walls of the warehouse.

"I didn't know they were policemen!" Absinthe looked down at the oil-stained concrete floor, the wonder if it would be the spot where he died foremost in the back of his mind. He should have known that something was wrong when Gin summoned him to one of the Organization's disused warehouses on the harbor...the 'disused' buildings they owned usually served a singular, bloody purpose for the Organization. "They were very convincing- you know how convincing they had to have been to fool me." Absinthe knew it sounded like he was begging for his life, but...well, he was begging for his life.

Gin let out a derisive snort. "You're just lucky Vodka and I were able to save your ass before you got arrested." He flicked his cigarette and let the ash fall to the floor, the hot embers falling to the floor and winking out instantly on the cold, hard floor. "We had our suspicions, so we tailed them to the meeting and saw them hooking up the portable police radio in their car, as you well know." He narrowed his eyes at Absinthe before he looked around the room, as if his eyes could detect bugs or unwanted visitors in the constantly moving shadows. "Although we had to kill, or try and kill,  _two_ cops thanks to your stupidity. The police are also being relentless even if officially they're classifying it as a freak fire.  _He's_ definitely not happy at all." Gin glanced over at Absinthe. "The kind of publicity that killing a cop brings is something we really don't appreciate."

"What do you mean  _tried_  to kill two of them? They were both dead when we left, and you gave them that poison stuff too to make sure they were dead!" Absinthe could feel the sweat trickling down his brow as he asked the question. "That stuff is undetectable and a hundred percent effective, right?"

"We had to leave after we fed them the poison and set the place on fire with them in it, remember?" Gin shook his head before studying his cigarette for a moment. "Don't you find it strange that they only had dental remains to work with for one body when they were able to have a full open-casket funeral for the other?" Absinthe had long noticed Gin's habit of trying to dehumanize his victims as much as possible, never referring to the names of any of them.

"Well, now that you point it out...but what do you want me to do about it?" Absinthe was still peering in the dark in Gin's general direction, desperately trying to read the other man's face in the small amount of dull moonlight that was creeping through the window and throwing ever-changing shadows on the walls.  _Give me a chance to do something...that means I'll still be alive after this._ Well, it would mean a much better chance of him being alive, at any rate. Absinthe held no delusions about how disposable all but a very few select members of the Black Organization were.

Gin leveled a glare at him after taking another deep puff of his cigarette, polishing it off before letting go of it and stomping on the butt after it hit the ground. "Did you really just ask that question?" His displeasure with his subordinate's lack of insight was made plainly obvious in his tone as he reached down to pick up the butt and place it in a plastic bag he always carried on him that had a few other similarly crushed butts.

"You want me to make sure he's dead then- the one that they said burned to death." Absinthe nodded in understanding, though he also found his curiosity piqued. "I thought that that had been done already though, Gin. That's why I didn't understand what you were asking at first." The Organization did one thing above all else- try and cover up its tracks and existence from the world.

"Of course it's been checked- by more than one person, as usual. But I want you to take another look anyway." Gin turned his attention to the window again. "I've got my reasons. Start looking into it immediately, and report your findings directly to me. We want absolute proof, one way or the other, and don't bother contacting me until you've got it."

"Aniki, do you want me to help him?" Absinthe's neck hair pricked and a jolt of fear ran through him as he recognized Vodka's deep voice coming from an unlit corner of the room where the moonlight wasn't dancing.  _He was there the entire time?_ Dealing with Gin by himself was bad enough. Gin with Vodka usually meant one thing and one thing only: death to whoever they were speaking to.

"No." Gin's tone was flat as he directed his attention to the shadows behind him that Vodka had spoken from, addressing the other man. "If Absinthe screws this up, I don't want him to have anyone else to place blame on." Gin looked over at Absinthe. "You'll be working alone with no support. Fail this job and you're dead."

Absinthe knew that this had been done purely as a power play and to knock him off balance a little. He could hear Gin's  _I could have had Vodka kill you at any time during this meeting_  in his head very clearly even though it went unspoken. Absinthe was a little resentful, but he also knew that the Organization very, very rarely gave an operative that shed any light into the darkness of the Organization -accidentally or purposefully- another chance. Usually, such failures turned into an unidentifiable body whose method of death could never be solved. The wave of relief that washed over him when he realized he'd be leaving the warehouse alive was massive, though he was also still very suspicious. "I assume you've found or heard something that prompted you to want me to look into this again?"

"Of course I did." Gin turned to Absinthe, his tone carefully neutral. "And that's the first part of your job, Absinthe. Finding what I found." He took a few steps towards Absinthe as he lit another cigarette, knowing that Absinthe was a nonsmoker and didn't like the smell. "Consider it a test from _Him_ , and you'd better pass." Gin then waved his arm in a 'come on' motion as Vodka stepped forward and fell in beside the shorter man. "Let's get out of here, Vodka."

After both men exited the warehouse, Absinthe slumped to the ground, the sheer fear and adrenaline that had been coursing through his body finally leaving him- and leaving him exhausted. He slowly stood up on somewhat shaky legs, looking around before quickly departing the warehouse and getting into his car. He felt his heart in his throat as he inserted his key and turned on the ignition, another wave of relief washing over him as the car started normally and didn't explode with him in it.


	3. The First Case

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the subs, bookmarks and kudos! <3 Hope everyone continues to enjoy! I will be using Takagi and Satou in place of their first names throughout the fic, it just feels less jarring to me (probably because we hardly ever actually hear their first names) but happy to fix it if folks don't like it!

_Here's the stuff. It's a brand new batch, too._

Takagi woke in a cold sweat, the voice of one of his assailants still ringing in his head he stirred from sleep and sat up in his futon. That voice, and the feeling of a pill being crammed down his throat along with some water to force him to swallow the pill, were his only two clear memories besides black fedoras and trenchcoats about whoever and whatever had...well, he supposed shrunk him was the best way to put it. Or maybe de-aged? What else could you _possibly_ term becoming what seemed about 10 years younger overnight, at least physically? He sighed and got out of bed after glancing at the cheap alarm clock he'd purchased, realizing that he'd woken up only a minute or two before it was due to go off. He popped the futon back into a couch with a yawn after he clicked the clock off.  _Time to get ready for school..._

He also still remembered vividly the first time he'd decided to try and find a mirror- for some reason, the dream almost always triggered him thinking about the first time he'd laid eyes on himself somehow being a teenager all over again. Takagi had been convinced at first that the reason they didn't want him looking into one was that he'd been horribly scarred or burned thanks to the fire, and the what seemed to be very deliberate lack of a mirror in his hospital room had only further set off alarm bells for him. When Takagi had asked about it and been told that wasn't the case at all and he realized the next day that the doctors weren't treating any burns anywhere on him, it had really gotten him wondering.

 _Excuse me, are there any bathrooms or mirrors around here?_ After Takagi had realized that the teenaged boy he'd been addressing in the hallway was following his movements, he'd started to approach him only to realize that the boy was continuing to ape him. After actually growing a bit annoyed for a moment at the boy's unhelpfulness and mimicry, Takagi's mind had processed that the kid was impersonating his movements and speech instantly, so quickly as if he was reading Takagi's thoughts...a boy that reminded him very strongly of himself in his late teen years. A startling moment of clarity had then mixed with puzzlement and complete shock as he'd continued the slow approach, the realization that the entire right side of the hallway was a giant wall to floor mirror causing his eyes to widen in horror and disbelief.

 _Well, I guess you went and found out- we were going to try and prepare you for it a little first._  Takagi could still recall Megure-keibu's quiet voice after he'd rather quickly returned back to his room, wondering if he was in the midst of some strange kind of fever or medicine-induced hallucination. _Yeah, that's you. Somehow. Now you know why your voice has sounded so off since you woke up, too._

Takagi sighed as he forced himself to refocus on the present. He quickly showered and got dressed in the only other cheap suit he'd managed to find in his size with the cash he'd had available after he checked out of the hospital. He also decided to bring everything on the list that his classmates had told him to bring to help soften the blow of Kuroba Kaito's pranks after the adventure he'd had yesterday-he couldn't risk having his only other suit get dirty before he got his uniforms, after all.  _What did they say again? An umbrella...two lunches...and an extra pair of shoes._ He made a face as he realized he didn't have an extra pair of shoes.  _I also need to talk to my parents about helping me out with a school uniform or two..._ and _figure out how to get my paychecks cashed. Maybe Megure-keibu could set up a phony officer in the system somehow and issue paper checks that Chiba could cash for me wearing a disguise?_ He was sure at this point that Megure-keibu's superiors were wondering why the man  was dragging his feet so much about removing the deceased Takagi Wataru-keiji from their registers. He walked into the sparse kitchen and pulled out the lone frying pan he'd borrowed from Chiba in haste after he found that the apartment had  _not_ come 'turn-key including pots and pans' as advertised before quickly making himself a hot breakfast and heading out the door.

When Takagi arrived at school, he gave his desk and chair a very close inspection. After a rigged to explode paintball waiting for him in his desk drawer when he'd come back from lunch yesterday, he was taking no more chances. He was in the process of making sure the seat would actually hold weight when he heard an amused, low-key laugh behind him.

"I see Kuroba already has you inspecting things before you use them now. Not surprising, and frankly probably very wise knowing Kuroba's past history in this classroom." The tall, impeccably groomed and dressed blonde that had introduced himself yesterday as Hakuba Saguru then sat down at his own desk after giving it an inspection and pulling out a thermos. "Sorry to say that as the new person in class, Kuroba's attention will probably be particularly focused on you." He then pulled out a teacup from his coat pocket and poured some tea from the thermos into it. "You're also fairly close to my desk which also means you'll be in his line of fire more frequently, so to speak. My apologies in advance."

Takagi offered a nervous laugh as he settled in and pulled his textbooks out. "What is the deal with that guy? Does he just enjoy generally causing chaos, or is he just out to torment a few of us in particular?"

Saguru rolled his eyes and sighed. "I wish I knew, but so far Kuroba-kun seems to simply enjoy pranks for pranks' sake. Much to our dismay, may I add, since we spend several days of the week with him."

The current subject of conversation wandered in with a smirk. "Oh come on Hakuba, it livens things up doesn't it?" Kaito snickered and began unpacking his own things. 

"I _do_ believe that most of our class would like to take exception with your version of 'livening things up,' Kuroba-kun," came Saguru's mild reply before he opened up an English language newspaper and started perusing it right as water started slowly leaking under the closed classroom door. The meitantei flicked his eyes over to the door and was just about to ask what Kuroba had done _this_ time before the slow leak became more and more rapid and the door suddenly opened slightly, several small, living goldfish merrily swimming into the room in the rapidly rising water. Kaito responded to this development by letting out a brief, loud, unearthly noise somewhere between a banshee scream and yelp before leaping up onto his desk with a bound that would have made a professional athlete proud, staring down at the water while paralyzed and utterly terrified, his eyes completely devoid of the humor and mirth that had been there a short time before.

Once Takagi had stepped up onto his own desk along with Saguru deciding to pursue the same goal as well before they both started looking around the room. Almost as soon as the bottom of the room had flooded, the waters and fish vanished, receding back into the hallway. "That was um. Really weird," commented Takagi with a raised eyebrow as he slowly stepped down off his desk.  _"_ Those _were_ fish that I saw in the water just now, right?"

"Yes. Apparently someone saw fit to generate a small aquarium for us briefly," muttered Saguru as he, too, returned to his desk. "They're gone, Kuroba," the blonde added flatly in Kaito's direction before Kaito finally relaxed and let out a breath he'd been holding before slowly, reluctantly getting into his desk again. The rest of the class slowly filtered in, a dull roar of conversation filling the room about the bizarre event and several rather pointed glares leveled themselves in Kaito's direction. 

"OY! Don't look at me, I didn't do it!" Kaito groused as he returned the glares.

"Yeah right. You're always pulling stuff like that, it had to be you!" 

" _This_ time it wasn't," chimed in both Takagi and Saguru confidently at almost the same instant, causing the class to quiet down instantly and stare at the pair openly.

* * *

"So? How are things in there, Bourbon?"

"Precisely as we anticipated. Still completely undisturbed aside from the few missing knickknacks we discussed taken by his friends and family to remember him by. Nothing else has been added or subtracted or shows signs of any recent use since my last visit." Furuya Rei, or Amuro Tōru as he was currently going by, glided catlike around the edges of Takagi Wataru's now carefully darkened apartment as he checked on things, only the dim afternoon light struggling through the curtains offering much in the way of illumination. A few careful minutes later he slid back out of the apartment and re-locked it, a balding, plump middle-aged man with a slight limp dressed in coveralls, thick gloves and workboots hefting a few large boxes into the back of a moving van before entering into the driver's seat a few minutes later. Rei pulled the truck out onto the streets before he continued the conversation after a quick sweep for bugs. Gin was a paranoid sort, Rei had long ago discovered, and Vermouth had requested that Rei keep this little side job between themselves. "This is probably the last visit that should be risked before they clear his place out, though, I'd imagine. A moving company is only going to show up so many times to pack and move things, after all, even if I do turn myself into a different worker every time."

  
"Then it really _does_ seem that he's dead- either that or smart enough to not risk a return trip." Vermouth let out a husky chuckle. "I think at this point based on what you've found we can assume our little rabbit has bolted into another hole somewhere if he is still among us. Let's start looking for it, hmm?"

Rei quirked a currently bushy, black brow. "Ah, so that's why you've had me checking up on this. You're thinking this guy's still alive somewhere then I presume?" He quickly compared cellphone photos that he'd taken each of the three visits he made. "I just got done verifying and no. No one's been in there since the funeral when the mementos were taken, and no one seems to be keeping an eye on the apartment either based on my quick scan outside. None of our little traps were set off and the dust was entirely undisturbed."

The sound of a pouring drink filled the phone before Vermouth replied. "Let's just say one of our little crows at the scene mentioned seeing a police car speeding off in quite the hurry suddenly from the scene of the fire, but oddly enough, they didn't use their lights or sirens at all. Unfortunately we were still too busy cleaning up the mess that was inadvertently created by Absinthe at the time to spare anyone, so we couldn't send someone to tail them to find out what exactly was going on. I'd say our best chance of learning something starts there- I'm going to give you the plate number." She rattled off a license plate number that Rei quickly wrote down. "Oh, and I will warn you, apparently Gin's smelled something and sicced Absinthe onto this as well because he's the one that got us into this in the first place, so if you could...well, keep his nose out of things as best you can without actually killing him or tipping our hand, _please_ do."

"Interesting. He normally works our money and money laundering fronts, right? I wonder how Absinthe even got tangled up with this in the first place." _At least the guy's not one of their intel operatives...he should be easy enough to manage if it becomes necessary._

"Ah, apparently that's because they were setting up a temporary laundering office in those dock buildings that Absinthe was due to take charge of. We then found out that there were drug smugglers operating out of some of the other buildings in the same dock and decided it would be...inconvenient for us to have them still be there when we moved in, so Absinthe was tasked with removing them before we officially set up. That eventually led us to our little situation with the two officers, so apparently the order came down that Absinthe also be the one to clean up."

"I see. Well, I'll look into that car and get back to you, alright? I do agree we can also pretty definitively call his apartment a dead end at this point. I don't think he, or anyone associated, are coming back before it's cleared out."

"I'll leave it to you, then. Thanks, Bourbon- I'll be expecting to hear from you very soon." Vermouth ended the call and Rei was left wondering just exactly what her game was this time. From the time he'd spent undercover and earning her trust, Rei had quickly learned that Vermouth both seemed to have enough of The Boss's trust to move around very freely and do as she pleased a great deal of the time while at the same time keeping a great deal of things from him and the others in the Organization. He'd also heard the quietly hissed whispers in meetings about her somehow looking the same age for over twenty years by some of the more senior members, but Rei could only assume without further investigation that he didn't want to risk that she likely paid for plastic surgeons under the table that were very good at their jobs. No one seemed to want to actually _ask_ her about it, though, because of her status as the apparent favorite of The Boss. Of course, there was a _reason_ for her being that favorite, but he knew just knowing that was dangerous enough. With a shrug, he tucked the license number Vermouth had provided into his coverall pocket and headed back in the direction of the Café Poirot, where he was due to work a shift in a couple of hours.


	4. The First Case, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all the kudos, subs, comments and bookmarks! I really hope everyone continues to enjoy! <3 Sorry this one took so long!

Saguru raised an eyebrow in the direction of his new classmate a few desks away, the meitantei now both rather curious about Takenaka Hayato and somewhat impressed with the newcomer.  _So he noticed it, too. Kuroba's utter panic when he saw those fish was absolutely_ not _faked._  The blonde's eyes narrowed in thought as he flicked his gaze from Kaito to their rather riled classmates that Kaito was trying to pacify to Hayato, who was staring down at his desk and appeared to also be pondering the situation. _For once, our resident prankster wasn't the source of the chaos, but I certainly wonder who was and what purpose it served._  Saguru knew that the amusement of a well-executed prank was enough of a reason in and of itself for Kuroba, but the half-Brit also knew that it was _not_  Kuroba who had decided to partially fill the floor with water and live fish. Directing his voice towards Hayato, Saguru decided to see what the other boy's thoughts were. "I see you think he's innocent as well, Takenaka-san."

Takagi looked up and blinked, looking startled and a bit worried for a second at being pulled out of his thoughts before rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well, yeah. I mean, you were in here too when the room flooded. You saw how he acted when those fish started showing up, right? I don't think he'd want to get anywhere  _near_  them, much less close enough for long enough to set up...um, whatever the heck that was back there. I really don't think he did it." He'd been caught up in musing about the odd situation at hand, but Takagi mentally chided himself nevertheless.  _Man, I have_ got  _to be more careful...I almost didn't even respond to my new name just then because I was so focused._  

"You're right, Kaito didn't do this," chimed in Aoko with a firm nod, bodily placing herself between the now calming down class and Kaito after she'd walked into the room and sized the situation up. When she continued, she explained things to the class as much as to Saguru and Takagi. "Kaito _hates_ fish, even things that _look_ like fish at all, Aoko's seen it plenty of times, and there were fish in that water."

Kaito reached up and tugged Aoko's sleeve gently, _really_ not wanting Saguru to put together that he was ichthyophobic and tell the Kaitou KID Task Force to place the next heist target in the middle of an aquarium filled with fish. _Of course, that's probably exactly what'll happen so I'll need to have Jii-chan do the dirty work if it comes to that. I_ know _Hakuba saw my reaction to them, and those damn fish were so sudden and unexpected that I didn't have the time to try and get my phobia under control._ "I think they get the point. But yeah, this one wasn't me." He shrugged, mentally willing his Poker Face back into place and trying to sound as casual as possible. "I mean, props to whoever did it for rigging the water the way they did, that probably took some time and effort to pull off, but I _Do. Not._ do fish." Kaito shuddered involuntarily and this seemed to fully pacify the class, who started wandering back to their desks. The magician then swiveled in the direction of Saguru. "Hey Hakuba, how much do you usually charge for an investigation?"

"Er...charge?" Saguru raised a brow skyward, puzzled, as he refilled his tea from his ever-present thermos. "Hmm. I've actually never asked anyone for a fee or anything like that, come to think of it. I tend to enjoy detective work simply because I like exercising my intellect and discovering more of the psychology behind the criminal mind."  _Wait a moment. Is Kuroba seriously about to ask me..._

Kaito crossed his arms, exasperation seeping into his tone. "Well, _someone_ tried to frame me, right? And I'm pretty annoyed about that, actually. I'll take my lumps, but _not_ for something that I didn't do." He tilted his head and uncrossed his arms, face and voice relaxing. "Uh, think you could help me try and figure out who did it and why after school gets out?" 

 _Yes he is, and he did._  Saguru allowed himself a brief pat on the back for calling it correctly before mulling the request over as he sipped his tea. _Well, he's not wrong that he was framed, or that the attempt to do so was made at least, so I'll help._ The blonde nodded his head. "Certainly. If there's one thing a detective can't stand, it's the truth being hidden, and I must admit I'm rather curious about those questions myself."  _And now let's see if I can get the chance to kill two birds with one stone and learn more about the rather observant new member of our class in the process as well._ Mentally apologizing to Watson for using that particular metaphor, Saguru turned towards Hayato. "Feel like joining us for this little fact-finding expedition, Takenaka-san? Another set of eyes and ears might help, and I'm sure that Aoko-san would be willing to help as well."

"Sure. I don't have anything planned for this afternoon anyhow." Takagi decided to make the leap, hoping that it would be a chance to integrate himself into his new classroom a bit as well as be an opportunity to get to know some more about his new classmates.  _Well, I_ was _going to spend the afternoon making my new apartment actually look lived in, but it's not like I'm planning on having anyone over anytime soon and I think the nosy neighbors have backed off for now after seeing Chiba visit in disguise a few times. So I may as well help out, right?_

Their history teacher walked in at that moment, the class rising to greet the friendly man. "Hello, class. We'll be relocating to a different classroom for the afternoon and likely for the rest of this week as well, as the janitorial staff needs to try and dry everything out and clean up. Please gather your things and follow me to our new temporary quarters on the other side of the cafeteria."

* * *

After class was dismissed for the afternoon, the small would-be investigative group gathered around right outside of the 2-B class's door, the damp scent of water hanging in the air and several large fans roaring in unison along with a large dehumidifier gently humming. Saguru decided to take the lead, having already talked to the school administration, speaking loudly enough to be heard above the dull roar. "Alright you three. We've got permission to stay and look around for an hour or so until the evening janitorial staff comes on and last of the teachers leave, though hopefully we shouldn't need that long. We've been asked to report our findings in return for the school's cooperation as this not only caused loss of time for students and staff, but also very likely caused at least _some_ water damage that will need to be fixed and they'd very much like to know who to bill for it. Plus, that aquarium belonged to the principal and contained some apparently rather expensive, prized goldfish- so far they're all OK, but there's the cost of a new aquarium and decor to factor in as well. Fortunately, I was able...to persuade them of my investigative abilities after they had a little chat with my father, and I convinced them that the more we had working on it, the quicker we'd be finished." Saguru cleared his throat and pulled out a few pages of handwritten notes on lined paper, scanning them before he continued.

"From what I was told by the vice principal, the water was confined to our class, 2-A to the left of us and 2-C to the right of us. There was a mostly empty 150-liter aquarium discovered taped up and sitting on a roof beam in the ceiling outside of our door, along with a few lengths of garden hose that had been rigged up to run out through the front door to attach and then run down to an outside high-pressure faucet normally used for cleaning. Based on the fish and plants that found their way into the room while we were being flooded, I believe we're safe for now to operate under the assumption that someone put the end of the hose into the aquarium, then walked outside and turned on the faucet full blast and walked to their class, timing it for just before the bell rang so they'd be sitting in class when this little flood was triggered."

Takagi looked up at the remnants of the duct tape that had been used along with a few straggling zip ties that were left tied to some pipes on the ceiling that were now exposed due to the ceiling tiles being moved. "Well that probably took a while to set up, eh?"

"Yep. And I bet they did it they way they did it to establish an easy alibi for themselves," muttered Kaito as he, too, studied the ceiling with a frown of concentration. "Turn on the hose outside, head to class afterward and bam, you're nowhere near the thing when it overflows. Especially if, say, this tank started off half full or even empty, which would buy you even _more_  time."

Aoko sighed lightly, also looking skyward. "Aoko wonders how they got it up there in the first place, though- it probably _had_ to be empty or mostly  empty, right? A tank that size full of water would weigh a lot, wouldn't it?"

"Quite correct, Aoko-san- just over 207 kilograms, to be precise. I did the math a bit ago as I was gathering information for us." Saguru tapped his notes and offered a glance to the other three. "Which is probably the exact reason whoever did this very wisely chose to place the tank on one of the roof's support beams. Most anywhere else in the ceiling absolutely could _not_ have supported that kind of weight once it started filling up."

"There also wouldn't have been enough water pressure to actually force the door open if it was coming from way up there, even if it _was_ a high-pressure hose, so someone opened the doors to make sure the rooms got flooded." Takagi shrugged before he looked between the other two boys. "Remember the door opening a little bit when it was happening, Hakuba-kun and Kuroba-kun? I wonder why they did that." 

Kaito wandered over to their classroom door and studied it. "Huh. You're right, come to think of it. I remember the door opening, and this is the kind of door that swings out into the hall, not into the class, _plus_ I don't remember anyone else being in the classroom at the time but Hakuba, Takenaka and I. So, someone on the outside definitely pulled it open. Wonder if we could get fingerprints, though there'd probably be a ton of them considering where the door's at and all the students going in and out so that might not actually help as much as we'd like it to."

"Aoko still doesn't understand why they went to all this trouble in the first place." She scratched her head and frowned, wandering towards Kaito. "Setting all this up seems like it would be a lot of time and work...for what reason, exactly? If it was Kaito being Bakaito that would normally explain it, but it's not, so it doesn't."

 _She's right._  Takagi glanced around the hallway, studying everything intently. _This whole thing took some serious time, effort and coordination. Surely it wasn't done_ just _for the sake of a prank or to try and get Kuroba-kun in trouble- in fact, I don't think Kuroba-kun being in our class to have the blame placed on him was the reason for this at all anymore. They must have had some kind of goal in mind when they set this up...something that they needed these three classrooms emptied out for, or a reason that they wanted the floor totally soaked with water and replaced._ "Well, maybe there's something that they wanted inside the rooms so they decided to clear them out like they did? Or something in the floors that they wanted destroyed or replaced for some reason?"

Saguru had been thinking along the same lines. "Both most excellent points, Takenaka-san. And I think we should start by rounding up everyone first thing tomorrow that had a hall pass during the time in question, or was otherwise absent from their classroom at the time that the doors to the classrooms were opened. I'm certain that will help narrow our field of suspects considerably."

"Sure, good idea. But why not try and figure out what they were after so we have that information before we confront 'em?" Kaito grinned broadly and poked his head into the 2-A classroom. "Well, well, would you look at that. There's a hole in the floor where someone hacked up some boards." The magician fully entered the classroom, Aoko hot on his heels. "Why don't you two see if there's anything similar in the other two rooms? Looks like they tore up the back left corner in this room."

Saguru raised an eyebrow. " _Now_ this has gotten rather interesting. Can you please check 2-C and I'll check our classroom, Takenaka-san?"  

"Sure." Takagi ducked into the empty Class 2-C and discovered that it, too, had had the floorboards haphazardly hacked at in the back left corner of the room, as if someone had quickly, madly gone at a small piece of the corner with a large mining pick. Wood chips and chunks of floor were scattered around the edge of a  jagged hole about the size of a notebook, debris flung for a few feet in all directions and the earth below the hole clearly disturbed by recent digging.  _Hmm. Someone is definitely looking for something, and they wanted the rooms empty to do it. I'll bet that the water was to help soften up the wood flooring a little and was probably part of the plan the whole time._ "It's the same thing in here, there's a small hole in the back left," Takagi called out before stepping back out into the hallway.

"As is the case in our own classroom as well," remarked Saguru mildly as Aoko and Kaito reemerged from 2-A and joined the other two. "Considering what we've discovered, as of now I'd wager we can pretty definitively say the ultimate goal behind this incident was to get these three classrooms evacuated for a few days so that a search for something that was buried could be executed. Something about the size of a sheet of paper or smaller, judging by the size of the holes."

Aoko tapped her chin, clearly in thought. "Hmm. Aoko thinks that someone was following a map or some kind of directions to find where whatever the thing was is buried, though they obviously didn't know which exactly which classroom. Maybe something valuable got buried when the school was built, or whenever the floor was last replaced?"

"I think that's gotta be the case. And now for some reason someone's decided to go after whatever it is. Maybe we should start by checking newspapers and stuff, something that might have triggered someone to search for something. _Especially_ if Ekoda High is mentioned anywhere, eh?" Kaito shrugged, his brows lifting.

* * *

"Alright. Now that this is out in the open between the three of us, I'd really like to know what _exactly_ happened to Takagi-kun. Please tell me everything." Satou levelled a cool gaze between Chiba and Megure, the three holding a quick meeting in Megure's office after the shift change. Chiba had approached Satou for a quick meeting after his conversation with Takagi a couple of days ago to try and make sure that the three of them were on the same page now as the holders of Takagi Wataru's secret, or rather Takanaka Hayato's secret in the case of himself and Megure. 

 _Trust me, Satou-san, you wouldn't believe Megure-keibu and I if we_ did _tell you exactly what happened. This is one of those cases where the truth really_ is _stranger than any fiction out there._ Chiba's mind whirled rapidly, trying to think of the best way to phrase things. Deciding to only omit a _small_ portion- Chiba had to hold back a giggle at the only partly unintentional pun- he spoke the truth, at least mostly."After we realized he survived the whole thing, we took him to the hospital and immediately placed him into Witness Protection for obvious reasons. The team created a new identity for him and the whole relocation package, exactly like any other witness we place into the program."

Picking up on Chiba's cue, Megure nodded and frowned. "Yeah. At least until further notice and the heat dies down, which may take quite a while unfortunately, Takagi Wataru-keiji _is_ dead. He's someone else entirely now."  _More than you could ever realize._

"Well, it certainly would have been nice to not let me think he was dead." Satou shook her head. "I understand it, but we're even keeping it on the down low from the rest of the division and the department? Why exactly is that?" 

Megure glanced around as if looking for bugs. "Because we're fairly certain those drug runners that were in those warehouses have someone on the payroll in the division that's feeding them intel on what we're doing, which we think is how they got the jump on Takagi-kun and Ikeda-keiji and knew about the sting going on before they were able to make their arrests. We're narrowing down our suspects for now, but it's much more in Takagi-kun's best interest, as well as the investigation that we're still in the middle of, to let everyone, _even_ in the division, think that he's dead. You and Chiba will be the only two that know this besides me but our new hire, Takashi-san, is actually with the Security Division and helping out with the investigation. Naturally, I'll need you both to keep that strictly to yourselves. I don't think any of us that are a part of Homicide are involved, but we can't take the risk. I'm only telling you two because you're both aware that Takagi-kun is still alive, and again, that's _also_ something we need to keep between the three of us. If it leaks that he's in the program, word could reach the ears of a rat that has access to the very databases we used to hide him, and I'm sure I don't need to spell out the potential consequences if that happens."

"Speaking of that. Wouldn't it be in the best interest to remove him from the databases at this point? I wondered why you never had him declared deceased in the system, and surely if there's someone keeping an eye out they'll get curious, too. I know I was wondering until Takagi-kun contacted me." Satou raised an eyebrow after she spoke.

Megure nodded. "Yeah, actually I need to send that paperwork up- they're chasing me for it at this point. We were delaying and trying to figure out a way to get him his paychecks without tripping the system that he was getting paid or causing activity on his bank account, like maybe a phony hire or something and slowly cancelling and reissuing checks under the new name, but Chiba and I think we stumbled onto something much simpler and easier. His parents are technically considered his beneficiaries because he's dead as far as the world knows, so we'll quite simply have them apply for and cut them the survivor's benefit checks that they're entitled to and then have them cash them. Then Chiba or I can middleman the cash to him in various ways."

"Can't I help? I mean, he knows I know he's alive. Is there a reason that he doesn't want me visiting him?" Satou frowned, worried. "Plus, between the three of us, we could probably pull off enough disguises and things to not raise suspicion."

Chiba again found himself frantically thinking. "Um, well right now we're trying to minimize his contact with much of anyone. You know, let him get settled into his new identity, get used to his new routine, that kind of thing. It can be risky for a newcomer to have too many faces showing up, right?"  _Oh man, I hope she doesn't get too insistent...this could be bad._

Satou's mouth set into a stubborn line before it relaxed again and she sighed. "Alright. I just want to help him however I can, that's all."  _And if you think I won't be following you around some more, Chiba-kun, you'd be very wrong. You'll only be able to stop me tailing you so many times more, and I'll bet you don't even realize that two of those times I deliberately_ let _you shake me._ Something was off here about this whole situation, Satou could feel it, something that neither Takagi himself, Chiba-kun or Megure-keibu was telling her, and it was really worrying the detective.  _What are they not telling me?_

"That's totally understandable, and maybe at some point we can run it by him, but for now trust that Chiba-kun, myself and our witness protection team are doing everything we can for him, Satou-san. I think just talking to someone that knows the old him may help, quite honestly." Megure nodded firmly. "Right, let's get back out there. Satou-san, I know you're worried, but everything will be alright." 

As Satou exited the room, she hung a left instead of the usual right towards her desk, heading down a set of stairs. _Oh, I trust you both completely, and Takagi-kun as well..but I still know that the three of you are keeping something from me, and I fully intend to find out what it is._ She'd even gotten a golden nugget of information if she played her cards carefully. Takagi's well-being was foremost in her mind, but she couldn't resist calling in a favor from a certain friend that owed her a favor that _just so happened_ to work in a certain division that _just so happened_ to sometimes work on witness relocation and assistance if the need arose.  _Right. I need to keep this as broad and nonspecific as possible- it'll result in additional work for me, but that's unavoidable. I won't risk Takagi-kun's safety by giving too many specifics._  "Knock knock," she announced brightly outside of the open door, stepping into the office of Fukuya Minako, Japanese Organized Crime Division.

"Ah! Satou-san! To what do I owe the pleasure?" The thirty-year-old grinned broadly and gestured to an extra seat in the lived-in yet tidy office, the scent of peppermint filling the air due to the other woman's love for them. "No, wait, let me guess. A favor?" 

"You know me well, and you _do_ owe me for that informant I sent your way," replied Satou with a wink before taking a seat. "I'm just curious about any scuttlebutt on any big drug deals going around, or any gangs that seem to have suddenly decided that they're a good way to turn a profit. You know how those tend to lead to dead bodies and work for us over in Homicide." 

"Indeed," replied Minako before popping a peppermint into her mouth, tossing the wrapper away and turning to her docked laptop. She nestled the peppermint in her cheek before talking. "Let's see now...ah, here's a couple. We had some of our little birdies chirp about a big deal going down over in Hofu, but the locals weren't able to get there in time apparently and the place was empty when they arrived. There was also a murder by Mount Haruna last month that was suspected to be drug related and the guy had some suspected yakuza connections, but honestly? The inspector they have assigned to it seems to either be amazing or really, really incompetent, and he apparently drew the idiot stick this round." Minako rolled her eyes. "Aside from that, actually it's been quiet... _oddly_ quiet, actually. We're starting to think something _really_ big may be in the works."

 _Damn. Nothing close enough to us to jump out at me, though I might check in with Gunma about that Mount Haruna murder._ "Thanks as always, Fukuya-san." Satou exited the office with a wave and smile, the smile vanishing as soon as she reentered the hallway.


End file.
